Some notes on bubblelator ice-o-lator extraction.
If you want to work with a camping washing machine in combination with a pyramid bag and two filter bags, then this may have some useful suggestions.
There are sets available of this, so a mini washing machines, the pyramid bag and two filter bags. It's good to know the filtersize in the bags. Usually both the pyramid and upper filter bag are 220 microns and the lower filter bag has 70 micron. The washing machines are standard camping equipment and can be bought seperately.
Edit: I don't really know if these sizes are correct that I gave ^^^. I read on a site about it, but since my bags are borrowed I don't know for sure if it's correct. You see, 70 microns is quite big and there are smaller sizes available. Anyway I examined my bags carefully and saw a label for the upper bag that said 185 and 45 for the lower and it seems logical to assume these are bag sizes. Anyway it's good to pay attention to this...
Now when you filter with the bags some crystals will pass all the way out and end up in the water. Also some THC will remain in the plant material used. What ends up in the water is unusable but there are smaller filter bags like 35 microns, so it might be possible to recover even this small sized pollen.
Anyway, here are some tips on the whole proces. Especially for getting as much yield as possible.
First of all it's labour intensive and because you use ice that will melt, it's a good thing to keep it going once you're on it. Working with a partner is good for this.
Now, when you notice the machine doesn't have ice in it anymore, it makes a lot less noise when this is that case, it's a good moment to add new ice. Overall it's about 4 kg of ice to start and the between 1 and 2 kg of ice about every twice runs it makes. But, there are different sizes of machines, so this is just an indication.
Also the amount of trimmings you put in the pyramid bag can be of influence. Found out that 150 grams of trimmings from good strains, grown outdoor, will yield around 10% over 7 runs of the machine. After that there's little left, but still a little comes out.
Now what is really a good tip is to squeeze the trimmings after each run when you flush the machine. This makes a big difference in yield.
Next is ofcourse to keep the lower side of the upper bag clean so no plant material >220micron ends up in the lower bag along with the goodies.
After the last run when you decide to call it a day, make sure to flush the machines one extra time and try to get all the foam out. Still not entirely sure if the foam actually contains signicicant amount of material, but to make sure no goodies are left in the machine is a good idea.
When you take the result out of the lower bag it's very wet ofcourse and it's a good thing to get as much moisture out of it asap. If you do it by hand it's really intense and be prepared for some sore hands next day. Tried a lot of methods for using tools to press, but if you don't have a mechanical press, the best way is still by hand.
Not sure how much yield you all have got, but experience so far is 10% with good trimmings and possibly even more. This yield depends mostly on the magic ingedrient ice and squeezing the bag after each run. Another factor would be the size of the bags, so between 220 and 70 microns you get this amount of yield, but if you were to add an even finer bag below the 70 micron this adds a yield. In fact there are a lot of possiblities and I've seen some post further up this thread that show some of these.
Anyway in closing, keep the material once you're done. It's still usable for making potent butter for example.
